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Peppermint-stick insect: the mint-spraying rainforest bug

Popkin
Dec 10, 2025
∙ Paid

By DiverDave - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

The peppermint-stick insect (Megacrania batesii) lurks deep in Australia’s rainforests and Papua New Guinea. This slim, green bug has a weird superpower: it sprays peppermint-scented liquid at predators.

You can watch the peppermint-stick insect in action here. To humans, it smells like mint tea. To predators, i…

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